Fall 2015 Edition of Inspired Magazine.pdf

Sponsored By:
MUSIC
Bryan Thompson-blessed with gifts
Bryan Thompson, 18
Freshman IU
Bloomington, IN
From the young age of three my family knew
that I would be musically oriented. I often
sang around the house because most of
the people in my family were singers but not
many musicians. I spent most of my life with
my aunt and uncle and at the time smooth
jazz was played on fm radio stations (before
satellite radio)
and that is all they
listened to so that
was all I listened
to as well. After
listening to jazz
music all the
time I suddenly
developed a
desire to become
a saxophonist
at the age of
9. My aunt and
uncle were quite
surprised but
they encouraged
my decision
to become a
musician. At
the time I was
unaware of
the price of a
saxophone and
figured it would
be easy to obtain
one but I found
out I was wrong.
Saxophones
can range from
process to $300
all the way to
$10,000 or more
depending on the quality and brand. Back
then, I didn’t care what brand or what type
of saxophone I got, I just wanted one! My
family couldn’t afford a good quality one
but in October of 2007, I remember going
upstairs to my room and seeing a black case
laying on my bed. I ran back downstairs
to ask whose box is on my bed? I was
told to go and open it and inside of it was
an old and rusty, Bundy alto saxophone.
Overjoyed, I immediately attempted to try
and play it but to no success. I spent day
and night just looking at the instrument trying
to disambiguate
how you play it.
After a few
months of
receiving my
saxophone, I
attended an
educational
African American
History camp
called Free Town
Village. The
director of the
camp overheard
me talking
about wanting
to play the
saxophone and
she approached
me stating that
her father was
a saxophone
private lesson
teacher. Soon
I began taking
lessons from
her father. After
about 6 months
a tragic incident
had occurred. My
private lessons
teacher’s home
was broken into and he and his wife were
beaten severely. I was unable to receive
any more lessons from him due to his critical
condition. I was extremely discouraged at
this point in my life and almost did not want
to play music any more. However I managed
20 Inspired
/InspiredKidsIndy
/inspiredkidmag